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May 26, 2016 | 72 pages
Hospital alliance to improve patient care Ashley Kulp
akulp@metroland.com
A collaborative approach can only provide stronger health care, according to Carleton Place & District Memorial Hospital (CPDMH) CEO Toni Surko and board chair Marcel Pinon. The hospital representatives appeared as a delegation at the May 17 Carleton Place corporate services committee meeting to provide an update on the recent decisions of the CPDMH and Almonte General Hospital (AGH) boards to partner on the Mississippi River Health Alliance and a
shared CEO role. Surko will retire in August and at that time, AGH CEO Mary Wilson Trider will step in and assume the dual position. The proposal is going forward after it received approval by the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) on April 27. “It’s about two hospitals and one goal and it’s about the very best care for the people who use the hospital,” Pinon explained. “... We certainly need to work with other health care partners and we do work with other health care partners, but what we wanted to do
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was create a stronger voice and a bigger voice for this area and our hospital.” “...It’s not a merger, it’s not about reducing services and it’s not about reducing staff,” added Surko. As small hospitals, Pinon admitted both Almonte and Carleton Place feel the pressure of tighter budgets, attracting specialists to the area, increased paperwork putting a strain on administration, as well as the ongoing executive compensation freeze that has been in place since 2009-2010. CPDMH already shares a few key positions – an integrated human resources manager, pharmacist and physicians work at both hospitals, but Pinon said about a year ago, it was announced the two boards would look at further collaboration, which included the creation of quality improvement plans. “...We have a smooth transition process that’s adopted for patients that are currently transferred today from Carleton Place to Almonte and a good example of that is the continued care patients going to the Rosamond unit at the Almonte General Hospital,” Pinon
explained. Other bonuses of the alliance, said Pinon, is the creation of a seniors’ strategy and hiring of a geriatric nurse, a mental health strategy, as well as the ability to join forces for purchasing power in diagnostic imaging. “As you know, Carleton Place and Almonte General Hospital are both looking to purchase new digital xray machines. So opposed to going at it by ourselves, we got together and went out purchased two systems that met both hospitals’ needs,” he explained. “And as you know there’s benefits in buying more than one...” It wasn’t until Surko sat down with Pinon to express her desire to retire, that a shared CEO role was considered. “We both (AGH and CPDMH boards) both thought that it was an opportunity worth exploring.” Surko said that the hospital worked with a PNG Consulting last spring/summer to start the ball rolling on the alliance. “Nothing about this was easy. There was a lot of discussion, there was a lot of history See ALLIANCE page A/CP5
Laurie Weir/METROLAND
Wally’s Classic Strongman Competition was another hit in Carleton Place over the weekend, as professional and amateur men and women converged at the Neelin Street Community Centre May 21 and 22. Above, Shane Wyman of Elliott Lake had some personal bests during Saturday’s amateur action. Here in the log press, he did 14 reps of 135 pounds.
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